Mimimi Games is one of those development companies that has managed to win a decent amount of fans over time. On the other hand, we’re talking about the minds behind Shadow Tactics and Desperados III, two real-time strategy games that caught the attention of players primarily due to their technical implementation, which is immediately followed by a central place dedicated to the gameplay that we would dare to define perfectly in line with similar styles.
Styles that older gamers will be remembered for the Commandos seriesone of those products that is often repeated (especially in the reviews written by me), given its particular relevance to a genre that was as popular as ever in the 90s. The fact is that Mimimi Games, taking into account the experience gained in the industrydecided to continue on this path, publishing in this hot August a good reason to skip the sea.
This is Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, a real-time strategy game set in the Caribbean. fascinating setting but above all very well seasonedthanks to a series of films that cemented Johnny Depp’s success as a pirate”CaptainJack Sparrow.
Shadow Gambit – Good storytelling pace.
As has been pointed out several times and on several occasions, one of the factors that determine the success of a good entertainment product is it’s definitely a storyor, better said, the way the events are connected to make the narrative easily digestible to the viewer behind the screen.
Shadow Gambit uses a pirate setting, however, focusing on the more esoteric part, the one in which voodoo magic was the protagonist, with this set of curses now firmly established in the collective imagination, so much so that they are as simple as they are effective. in the story (and monkey island taught us a thing or two about it). Mimimi’s games it seems fished with both hands from the Caribbean pirates Verbinskipirates, who in turn draw inspiration from a whole chain of historical events that have outlined their connotations several times.
For example, the legends of the pirate Blackbeard, the gold of Cortez, but even all the stories of Davy Jones and the Flying Dutchman are important references to the context that danced elegantly between reality and legend, and also inspired literary works. like Stevenson’s immortal workor Treasure Islandwhich also mentions the “black spot” that appeared on Jack Sparrow’s arm).
In Shadow Gambit, all the cards on the table are a little mixed up, in fact, everything begins thanks to the desire of the pirate Afia Manikato to return the ship Red Marley, the ship that belonged to the legendary pirate Mordecai, and also the only way to find the great treasure hidden by the latter. However, thanks to a training mission, we discover that this will not be easy, as Mordecai seems to have gathered important enemies, represented here by the mighty Inquisition, with fairly direct references to the Spanish soldiers of the 1500s, except for the costumes, which seem to be original in their implementations (even if some helmets are somewhat reminiscent of a bascinet tercius).
We have to accompany Mrs. Manikato by sea to uncover the secret of a great treasure and, why not, meet the old pirate crew, who are now gone, but not for this reason are unable to resurrect on our side.
Shadow Gambit Character Importance
In the chaos of the sector’s offerings, it is necessary to try to diversify, looking not so much at the gameplay, which by now is rooted in fertile ground, consisting of styles that are as effective as they are fun. Quicker, instead, you have to work hard on the characterization of the characters that will be used.In short, build that empathy, useful for making the player feel like they’re part of the adventure.
In Shadow Gambit, the developers have tried to create a large number of characters, each of which can offer an intriguing backstory, just look at the swordsman Touya to give you an example. along with a core set of unique skillswhich will be studied primarily depending on the style of play adopted.
Each character has one thing in common: he can kill his enemies in close combat, hopefully always unnoticed, but the further you go, the more noticeable the differentiation becomes, which is especially good when you have to face complex missions in different territories, able to use the verticality of the scenario well .
The game makes us start at Afia Manicato, offers a truly versatile skill set, it’s because he has Lightning Bolt that can make us teleport a short distance towards the enemy, accompanied by Time Freeze, which proves to be really useful for creating creative as well as effective kill windows. In our run, thanks to some special stones, we decided to unlock swordsman Toya and sniper Teresa, the first because it offers good control over the field thanks to the placement of her Katashiro, a paper doll that Touya can teleport to with the Shadow Step ability. Eat it is great for long tripsso reminded us of the sniper Commandos (also for the viewfinder icon, almost identical!), this is because with his two skills Iron Judgment and Cinereo Judgment, he allows us to kill from a distance or blind the enemy for a few seconds, long enough to implement the chosen strategy and bring home the result.
All this may seem silly to you, or maybe too specific, but it is important to give you a few specific examples, this is so that you understand that in the roster proposed Mimimi Games has many characters that can guarantee different approaches.like Pinkus or John Mercury, respectively, are able to distract the enemy or hide the corpses without much effort.
The rest of the game mechanics are standard.: all enemies have a vision cone in which we can be intercepted, depending on our movement posture, and it is important to take into account the passive abilities of the pirate team, because some will not be able to climb the ivy or swim. The goal is to kindly “force” the player to look for different approaches without advancing through the map with their eyes closed, without thinking about tactics.
A tactic that can also be perfectly packaged thanks to Shadow Mode, essentially a strategic view in which the player can develop coordinated actions with the aim of putting them into practice at the same time with the simple press of a button.
As for the gameplay, we can end by talking to you about the behavior of the guards, which are divided by rank and therefore by the difficulty of killing. For the record, however, it’s fair to tell you that the game, even on Normal difficulty, tends to forgive the playerthis is because the attention threshold of enemies, once warned, is contained in about thirty seconds, a time that, when used correctly, gives the player several windows of removal from a hot area.
Shadow Gambit – visually pleasing
As suggested in the previous paragraphs, what’s striking about the work of Mimimi Games is that they were able to create a visually appealing product, even if for all intents and purposes it’s a real-time strategy game that isn’t expensive at all. at least on the technical front. The art part seems to scream”AAAAA!» from the script, every characteristic of the characters, even Red Marley winks at that world between reality and legendbest known from the stories that made piracy attractive and exciting, in short, easy for audiences of all ages.
The scenarios are aesthetically well done, even the level design in its simplicity shows us that we don’t need to overdo it, it’s enough to create the right context to guarantee the player a good immersion, even if the main role here is played by characters who are actually well-made and full of personality. If we really want to look for a flaw, then here, perhaps, the enemies lose a little, the antagonists are all a bit similar, but on the other hand, it was a period, so “bad boys in uniformwere almost identical to each other, except for headgear.
The dubbing is great, the soundtrack is perhaps less inspirational, which looks good but doesn’t evoke strong emotions (it’s true that Hans Zimmer, for example, is almost unreachable, especially when looking at The Curse of the Black Pearl.).